This thoughtfully renovated Queen Anne Farmhouse honors its historic character while creating modern spaces for academic life. Built in1909 at the base of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, the home sits between two glacial hills that anchor the town's distinguished liberal arts institutions. The original house possessed classic charm but suffered from an unfortunate 1970s addition and disconnected landscape. The renovation transforms these elements to reflect the professor-owners' East Coast heritage and scholarly lifestyle. The deteriorating historic porch was reimagined as a wrap-around structure extending along three sides of the home, accommodating the site's elevation changes while creating planted privacy buffers from the street. Floor-to-ceiling windows replace opaque walls, connecting interior spaces to this expanded outdoor living area. Materials flow between architecture and landscape—monolithic charcoal concrete, horizontal stained cedar, and natural black locust decking establish a refined palette that references the owner’s Connecticut countryside childhood home. The structured landscape uses welded mild-steel edges, concrete planks, and native plantings to define distinct outdoor rooms. A specimen white birch stands illuminated at the entry, while a grand white oak provides canopy over the rear play lawn. The renovation balances historical preservation with contemporary function, creating a cohesive environment where academic rigor meets small-town charm in this distinctive river community.

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